A Roseville couple has been charged in Sacramento federal court with stealing nearly $200,000 in life insurance benefits from a grief stricken Shasta County woman who had just buried her Marine Corps son.
Joyce Guzman's 21-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Kyle Guzman, an Iraq war veteran, was killed by accident during a training exercise Nov. 21 in San Diego County.
Her half sister, Carol Ann Damico, and Damico's boyfriend, Raymond R. Brogan, purported to relieve Guzman, 42, of burdensome arrangements and paperwork in connection with Kyle's government life insurance policy.
According to a criminal complaint and accompanying affidavit of an FBI agent on file in federal court, they plundered the insurance benefits account of at least $195,350 and spent it on themselves.
Brogan, 41, was detained Saturday by a Marin County park ranger for operating remote controlled vehicles on a public beach. When the federal arrest warrant was discovered, he was taken into custody.
Damico, 33, was arrested Tuesday at the Roseville residence the couple and Brogan's brother have been renting.
They made appearances Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows, who advised them of the charges, penalties and their rights. They did not enter pleas, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16.
Hollows ordered Brogan held without bail, "especially in view of his lengthy criminal record and the circumstances of this case." He ordered Damico released to the custody of her mother on a $50,000 unsecured bond, with the condition that she live with her mother in Burney.
Attorneys for the pair had no comment as they left the courtroom.
Call The Bee's Denny Walsh, (916) 321-1189.
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